Day Boaters !!! Don't you just love them ?

[bowten]

What colour then burgundy??

 

Whatever the colour - it left a sour taste to be shouted at like that - coming back the other way I was briefly tempted to give it the gun as we passed her again but resisted...

Yer should have gunned it,she would have been waiting for yer down at Silsden.

[carlt]

Purple.Hells bells I wouldn't hire a purple boat,had yer been drinkin

Never drink from the purple can.

[bowten]

Never drink from the purple can.

Where have yer been all night?I have had to put with this lot on mi own.

[Guest]

Yer should have gunned it,she would have been waiting for yer down at Silsden.

 

Funny enough last time we passed her was in our own boat at the same speed - not a murmur from her....

[bowten]

Funny enough last time we passed her was in our own boat at the same speed - not a murmur from her....

Right OK.

[koukouvagia]

. . . I can assure you that our handovers last much longer than 1/2 - 1 hour! I can only vouch for the handover on the Saturdays, as that's the only day I work, but I'm sure the procedure is the same for all days. You really can't conduct a safe and efficient handover in that time unless it's a returning guest who is familiar with the boat and the procedures for safe boating. We don't take anything for granted!

 

 

On the other hand It is possible to overwhelm a novice hirer with too much information. A few years ago we stayed for several days in the basin at Market Harborough moored in the middle of the Canaltime fleet and observed how the handovers were conducted.

 

One afternoon a couple arrived from abroad and had come straight from East Midlands airport to the hireboat. They'd never seen a canal before and, indeed, had booked and were expecting a timeshare cottage, but at the last minute had been foisted off with a canal holiday instead.

 

We could hear what was being said on the adjacent boat as the doors and windows were open in the summer heat. The briefing was impressive and extremely thorough. It amounted to an hour long lecture and although all the advice was all very sound, the person giving the briefing had no idea how to put it across. I remember the shell-shocked look on the faces of the hirers at the end of the lecture.

 

If the hirers had been apprehensive before setting off they were doubly alarmed now. They were quite convinced they'd sink the boat, tie the wrong kind of knot, flatten the battery, run out of water and go aground. They nearly abandoned the holiday there and then.

[Radiomariner]

I saw that picture and all I could think of is what is that crane doing?

The crane is on the "builders supply lorry" crossing the bridge?

[Travis]

I'd like to point out to people thinking of doing the L&L that not all boaters up here have the same attitude to hirers as portrayed here. Theres very little trouble up here and us locals go a long way to make visitors welcome! Whatever colour their boat is

[RLWP]

'Day Boaters !!! Don't you just love them ?'

 

Probably a bit late in this thread but, actually, yes I do. They are almost invariably struggling to handle a boat with the directional stability of a housefly, they have little experience, but generally they are cheerful and loving their day out on the cut. Very few other groups of boaters seem to be having such a great time as day hirers

 

Richard

[srthomas1957]

Travis, I am so glad that you pointed this out because reading some of the other comments I would avoid this canal like the plague, I always thought Northerners were friendly and warm to there fellow travelers ,

[PeterScott]

'Day Boaters !!! Don't you just love them ?' Probably a bit late in this thread but, actually, yes I do.

 

We were struggling with Peak Forest bridgehole depth with Fulbourne last weekend and a Portland Basin dayboat offered (newted) help. Not confident of proffered shove-in-rear, we backed out to let them past, and we tried a couple of snatches and then brute force on the rope from what would have been an extremely efficient tug-of-war team. Mr (newted) Anchorman was a star - and as it turned out MrSteerer was enjoying the banter, waving a tinny, but owned his own boat and was in good control both of dayboat and his mates. Excellent fun.

[steven wilkinson]

hmm - interesting - I will put all this information to the test later in the year! I will report back on instruction levels, wind, weather, shouty boat owners, and friendly boat owners!

 

[Guest]

Travis, I am so glad that you pointed this out because reading some of the other comments I would avoid this canal like the plague, I always thought Northerners were friendly and warm to there fellow travelers ,

 

There is actually no inherent issue with the friendliness or other wise of users of this canal, you meet boaters and other users of varying degrees of friendliness across the system.

 

One thing about the L&L is that because it is generally quieter than the system in the Midlands and further South your likelihood of meeting somebody unpleasant is lessened. There is less chance of queues at locks for example which can lead to problems at peak times on other parts of the system.

We have only ever really had one unpleasant experience (relayed above) and we have been up and down the L&L a few times now over the years.

 

In summary there is no reason to be put off.

[jonathanA]

I'd like to point out to people thinking of doing the L&L that not all boaters up here have the same attitude to hirers as portrayed here. Theres very little trouble up here and us locals go a long way to make visitors welcome! Whatever colour their boat is

 

well said that man !

 

i have to say I've seen equal bad behaviour on both hired and private boats and enjoyed sharing locks with both hire and private boats...

 

its a bit unfortunate that silsden do have a large fleet (20+ boats) and their idea of tuition is a dvd so they probably get a bit of a bad rep from the 'locals'

 

and in line with the OP the day boats around skipton always add some interest with their good humour and obvious pleasure at being on the water. They are always dead pleased to do the swing bridges...

[Dekazer]

We were day boaters the other week. We (well, my parents in law) hired a boat in Bath and we had a lovely day out on the K&A, including both an impressive thunderstorm and blissful sunshine.

 

I can't say we were given a great deal of instruction, but my father in law has hired before, so is pretty proficient. We didn't mention we lived aboard, in case we did something stupid

 

The stretch we boated on was pretty busy with moored boats, and there were a lot of hirers out. We got impressively side-swiped while moored for lunch, by another hirer. If I lived there and that was a regular occurrence, I wouldn't be too happy about it. However, I suspect I wouldn't choose to moor on such a narrow, crowded, busy stretch if I had any choice in the matter.

[Naughty Cal]

'Day Boaters !!! Don't you just love them ?'

 

Probably a bit late in this thread but, actually, yes I do. They are almost invariably struggling to handle a boat with the directional stability of a housefly, they have little experience, but generally they are cheerful and loving their day out on the cut. Very few other groups of boaters seem to be having such a great time as day hirers

 

Richard

 

Couldnt agree more

[Dalesman]

This is in the middle of Skipton just next to the water point and yes the wind can catch you near this point (actually just after) but they didn't blame the wind they just said they didn't know what to do.

 

Dave

Can I ask what day this happened..?

[Titus]

It was yesterday (Wednesday) about 10.50am I had to help them out, they just had no idea, they said they been told that the tiller steered it and the throttle made it go faster or slower, I gave them 5 minutes of my time and it seemed to help, when I saw them later in the day they said they'd had a great time.

The bloke in the blue narrowboat that they were against wasn't too impressed though

 

Dave

Edited August 16, 2012 by Titus

[ditchcrawler]

It is easy to get it wrong, done it myself, in fact almost lost my boat and wife once when I tried to moor up supposedly into the flow but I had checked the Tide Tables for the wrong week and in fact was trying to moor with the flow going the opposite way. Stepped off from the forward drive position with the bow rope while my wife made ready at the stern with the aft rope. The 6knot tide took the boat round and as I hung on for grim death my wife ran through the boat to the wheel and put power on to bring her back. My said she did'nt really fancy a day out in Gt Yarmouth as that is where she would have ended up.

Still we can laugh about it now.

 

Phil

Hecky thump, that's a long way from the Lark.

[bowten]

I'd like to point out to people thinking of doing the L&L that not all boaters up here have the same attitude to hirers as portrayed here. Theres very little trouble up here and us locals go a long way to make visitors welcome! Whatever colour their boat is

Says he,hidden away,miles from any day boaters and the hire boats of any company have had the time to acclimatise to the idea of canal cruising by the time they pass you.No wonder we don't see you cruising very often.Bring yer boat down here for a week see how you feel then.

[wannabe]

I'd like to point out to people thinking of doing the L&L that not all boaters up here have the same attitude to hirers as portrayed here. Theres very little trouble up here and us locals go a long way to make visitors welcome! Whatever colour their boat is

I'd like to second that

Had a fantastic week on the L&L last october (rain excepted of course)

Beutiful canal and friendly people

You're always going to meet someoen you just can't get along with

Would recommend a trip on it any day.

And Skipton is a lovely place. Not just for boaters. We used to camp in the area years ago too

[Harnser]

Hi.

 

I am a regular visitor to the Norfolk Broads on my trailable tupperware boat. That which you have highlighted is an everyday occurrence there, even a dozen times a day!

 

It really is amazing to see when hirers try to steer a boat like a car and what with the winds and the tide quite entertaining sometimes.

 

 

Harnser.

[LoneWolf]

It was yesterday (Wednesday) about 10.50am I had to help them out, they just had no idea, they said they been told that the tiller steered it and the throttle made it go faster or slower, I gave them 5 minutes of my time and it seemed to help, when I saw them later in the day they said they'd had a great time.

The bloke in the blue narrowboat that they were against wasn't too impressed though

 

Dave

 

Well done you. It's amazing isn't it, 5 minutes of your time turned what could have been a miserable time with shouty feckwits moaning at them into a great day.

[Travis]

My Dear Bowten, we moor up 'ont the summit of the L&L where all those deadly hireboaters head for after leaving Skipton. We also have a dayboat knocking around without incident.

Also we have been to Skipton probably a hundred times in the 30 years we have been boating, and dont see other boaters as the enemy.

[Offcumden]

The boat in question is a day boat, they are not allowed to go through locks, on this particular canal the most they will encounter are the swing bridges.

 

Yes the wind around here can cause problems even for experienced boaters.

 

Just how much training should be given, after all they only have the boat for six and a half hours and at twelve quid an hour no wonder people want to set off